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The Book of ceremonial Magic

The Book of ceremonial Magic

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the magician born under such a constellation <strong>of</strong> the planets, even whilst in the act <strong>of</strong><br />

being exorcised.<br />

It must be confessed that this process is grim and depressing, and the occult student will<br />

not envy the sorcerer at the first palpitation <strong>of</strong> the corpse. Yet the rite is methodical, and<br />

even sober, when compared with the monstrous alternative <strong>of</strong> the Grand Grimoire, which<br />

must be given on the authority <strong>of</strong> Lévi; for no available editions <strong>of</strong> the work which is in<br />

question, nor yet <strong>of</strong> the Red Dragon, nor indeed any ritual <strong>of</strong> my acquaintance, contains<br />

it. <strong>The</strong>re is reasonable probability that he invented it to make out his case at the moment.<br />

"<strong>The</strong>re are also necromantic processes, comprising the tearing up <strong>of</strong> earth from graves<br />

with the nails, dragging out some <strong>of</strong> the bones, setting them crosswise on the breast, then<br />

assisting at midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and flying out<br />

p. 329<br />

<strong>of</strong> the church at the moment <strong>of</strong> consecration, crying: 'Let the dead rise from their tombs!'-<br />

-then returning to the graveyard, taking a handful <strong>of</strong> earth nearest to the c<strong>of</strong>fin, running<br />

back to the door <strong>of</strong> the church, which has been alarmed by the clamour, depositing the<br />

two bones crosswise, again shouting: 'Let the dead rise from their tombs!'--then, if we<br />

escape being seized and shut up in a madhouse, retiring at a slow pace, and counting four<br />

thousand five hundred steps in a straight line, which means following a broad road or<br />

scaling walls; finally, having traversed this space, lying flat upon the earth as if in a<br />

c<strong>of</strong>fin, repeating in doleful tones: 'Let the dead rise from their tombs!'--and calling thrice<br />

on the person whose apparition is desired."<br />

<strong>The</strong> object <strong>of</strong> Necromantic evocations was much the same as the other operations <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Grimoires. If the sorcerer <strong>of</strong> old, like the modern magician, had ever dispossessed the<br />

shade <strong>of</strong> Apollonius <strong>of</strong> its eternal rest, it would have been upon a question <strong>of</strong> finance. <strong>The</strong><br />

remaining process in Necromancy will be therefore an appropriate conclusion to our<br />

whole inquiry, as it is designed to raise up and expel a human spirit who is supposed to<br />

stand guard over a hidden treasure. It is from the Verus Jesuitarum Libellus, and is the ne<br />

plus ultra <strong>of</strong> Ceremonial <strong>Magic</strong>, however distributed according to the colours <strong>of</strong> the<br />

spectrum. <strong>The</strong> end <strong>of</strong> all things is money, says the sorcerer, and if asked to define Occult<br />

Science, he would answer that it was the method <strong>of</strong> obtaining concealed money. <strong>The</strong><br />

testimony <strong>of</strong> the entire literature coincides with this definition.<br />

A CONJURATION FOR THE SPIRIT GUARDIANS OF HIDDEN TREASURE<br />

I cite, require and command thee, Human Spirit, who frequentest this place, and in thy<br />

life hast interred thy treasure<br />

p. 330<br />

herein, who also <strong>of</strong> recent time, to wit, in the day or night <strong>of</strong> . . . ., about the hour <strong>of</strong> . . . .,<br />

hast shewn thyself in the form <strong>of</strong> a fire at this spot.. I conjure thee by God the Father e,<br />

by God the Son , by God the Holy Spirit , by the most glorious and Holy Mother <strong>of</strong>

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